The Long Sleep
by Joy Katie
Summary: Regina is tired of Emma napping all the time when she should be spending time with her family, and so decides to prank her, if only to brighten up their otherwise 'normal' weekend. Rated T for language. Anything you recognise does not belong to me.


**The Long Sleep**

 **Based off a prompt from the SQ FFN FB group I get all my inspiration from. Short and silly. I literally started this 4 hours ago and could not think of a title, don't be too harsh.**

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Regina had had enough. Emma was napping. Again.

Yes she had a demanding job, and yes it was difficult running around after their two year old when Regina was busy working, but it seemed all she did when she got home from work, or when Regina got home from work and she was relieved of her kid sitting duty, was to fall asleep on the sofa. Usually it was only a nap, and she was awake in time to help cook dinner, or to bath Henry, but it was becoming a bit of a habit for the blonde to curl up in front of the TV, and fall asleep to whatever movie she had picked on Netflix. On the days when she had had a particularly challenging day at work, she would usually pick Henry up and cuddle him, and she would fall asleep on her chest. Other days she'd sleep with her arm leaning down off the sofa, holding on to whatever particular toy had Henry's interest, only really half asleep at that point.

Today however, was different. It had been one of the worst days at work that Regina had ever gone through. Someone had hacked into the computer system and sent a large number of her clients a virus which had not only resulted in her system going into meltdown, but her stock prices had decreased. Not only that, but two of her favourite employees had been seriously injured in a car accident on their way back from a conference she had sent them on. All she wanted was to get home, have a long bath and order takeout, and fall into bed with her wife and kid. So when she got home to see some the kitchen a mess and a load of laundry in the basket outside the laundry room, something inside her snapped.

The lawyer took a deep, hopefully calming breath before she walked over to Henry's pen, picking him up for a quick cuddle, checking he was happy, before grabbing the load of dried but unfolded washing, turning the basket over on top of Emma who woke with a start.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" It was a loud whisper, or a quiet shout which lessened the effect that Regina was trying to get across, but Henry was two and learning more words by the day and no way was she allowing the f-bomb to become one of his favourites. She melted when he said 'momma', and she would just about die of embarrassment if he learnt his first cuss word because of her.

The quiet annoyance did have the desired effect on her wife though as she jolted to a sitting position, pushing the washing away as she looked around wildly for her son. She saw him where she had left him, breathing a sigh of relief before looking up at her wife who stood above her, hands on hips and glaring, looking regally evil, and if Emma did say so, mighty sexy.

Something about her stance and the dark circles under her red-rimmed eyes though had Emma concerned. She knew her wife had a tiresome job, but they were a 'leave it at the office' kind of couple and they usually didn't bring it home with them. Still, Emma could see that this had not been any normal kind of day for her.

"What is it baby, what's happened?" Emma was stood in an instant, one hand on Regina's hip as the other cupped her face trying to get her to look her in the eye. The brunette was trying to hold back the emotions that were taking their toll, and didn't know whether to tell Emma what was going on and let her comfort her or whether she should be angry about the state of the house. With one look back at the kitchen, she knew.

"Again, are you f-ing kidding me?" The cuss was mouthed this time as her voice rose. She glanced at Henry who was watching his mothers with a keen interest, but couldn't help the anger that was flowing from her. "You have been home all day, Henry was with your parents for most of the day, but still you get him home and you sleep? I asked you to make sure the house was tidy, that was it. In fact it was already tidy, I just didn't want you to make any mess… So…" She gesticulated wildly around the house that wasn't really messy, except now there were a load of clean clothes on the floor, and dishes in the sink. She realised that she had maybe slightly overreacted and seen mess where there wasn't any, but she was in full rant mode now (as Emma called it when she dared) and she could not seem to calm down enough to speak rationally. "Explain what in the hell made you think it was a good idea to ditch our son just for a nap?"

Emma was bright. Sometimes. She knew it was not always a good idea to argue with Regina, especially when she seemed to be barely holding it together, like right now and knew that now was not the time to try and be 'smart'. Instead she ran her hand down Regina's shoulder, cupping her elbow briefly, before she gently prised her wife's fingers from her hip, holding the smaller hand in hers. She took a deep breath when Regina did and pressed a kiss to her knuckles, gripping a little tighter as she tried to pull away. When the smaller woman was calmer, the blonde twisted them so they could both sit. They did just that, facing each other with their knees touching, Emma keeping hold of both of her wife's hands. She waited until she was looking her in the eye before she spoke.

"I dropped him off with my parents early, and then I got called in for an emergency call at work, a pretty major RTA…" She paused, because she knew that Regina knew exactly which one she was talking about. Emma had recognised two of the injured as Kathryn and Frederick, a couple she'd met at Regina's law firms Christmas party the year before. It had been her deputy even that had called Regina, at her request to inform her of the accident." She held onto the brunette tighter as the older woman began to breathe a bit deeper, as if trying to stop herself from crying, only continuing when a nod informed her she could do so.

"That took a few hours, and then I was going to visit and bring you an early lunch but my mother called. Neal had been sent home from school with some pretty severe vomiting and with Henry's asthma, she didn't want him to catch anything. So I picked him up at midday and he was a little fussy so I took him to the soft play centre…" She paused when she saw her wife's raised eyebrow. "Yes, I had his inhaler with me, don't worry. After that we went to the store and I picked up the groceries you were going to get tomorrow and some other stuff and then Hen and I spent some time doing the laundry. He watched a movie as I did the ironing, and then he decided to help out by hiding some crayons under the shirt I was ironing and that put an end to that…" She looked over at the light of both their lives who was grinning cheekily, as if he understood what his mama was saying and was proud of his little prank. "Then we spent some time making you dinner which is in the slow cooker and probably just about ready to eat…" She frowned down at her knees, removing one of her hands from Regina's and placed it on her knee. "I'm sorry I didn't do the dishes, but I didn't sleep all that great last night and I guess a five minute sit down lasted a lot longer. I promise, as soon as this big case is over, I'll be a lot more with it." She looked up as a drop splashed on the hand that was holding Regina's and noticed that she was crying and instantly her stomach dropped. Regina very rarely cried. In fact, aside from happy times like their wedding day and Henry's birth she had seen her wife of almost five years, girlfriend of seven years, cry a grand total of six times when she was upset. She instantly shifted closer, pulling the smaller woman onto her lap, ignoring her ineffectual pushes to let her go. She wrapped her arms tightly around her, feeling the woman sob into her neck.

"I'm… I'm so… sorry." It took the blonde a minute to work out what her wife was saying, but when she heard an apology, she frowned, kissing the top of her head.

"Shhhh baby, it's ok… it's ok." She rocked her gently, looking over at Henry who looked upset himself. She'd always thought it was crazy how Henry's emotions often reflected those of one of his mothers. She blew a kiss at him and he blinked at her before turning back to his toys. "You don't need to apologise sweetheart, I know today can't have been easy. Zelena did text earlier about the cyber-attack, I'm assuming it was worse than she thought?" Regina nodded, unwilling and unable to move herself off from Emma's lap. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you today, I'll make more of an effort in the future ok, I swear." Regina pulled back to try and argue, not liking the pity that was causing Emma to say what she was. However, when she noticed no pity, and nothing but concern in her wife's eyes, she simply blinked tiredly, tilting her head to allow her to give her a chaste kiss.

xxx

Things got better quickly after that. Kathryn and Frederick had recovered and had actually decided to get engaged after their near death experience, and Regina had been asked that same day to be Kathryn's Maid of Honour, a role she'd graciously accepted. Regina did also notice a marked change in Emma as the months passed. She was still working hard at her job, and a month after what they were calling 'Regina's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day' (coined by Emma, after Neal's favourite movie in an effort to cheer her up the week after said day), her station had closed the case and 'arrested the baddies' as she had cheerily informed her son when it happened and as a result was sleeping better and napping less.

She'd also made an effort to be more attentive to Regina and their son. She would offer to cook more and would do some of the chores Regina usually had to ask her to do, like taking out the garbage, without being prompted. She planned and took Regina on more dates than they'd been having and took the family on little outings at the weekends and generally became, what she thought, was a better wife and mother. Regina reminded her constantly that she was perfect just the way she was and that the extra 'effort' she was going to was unnecessary but Emma just responded with a smile and a kiss, wanting to do anything to make sure she didn't see Regina like that again.

However, about six months after 'the bad day', a day which, although infrequently, if ever mentioned between the couple, had been shortened to if ever it was mentioned, the naps began again. Henry had started going to nursery and Zelena's one day on consecutive weeks, and a local childminders for three days a week, with Regina or Emma with him on the fifth day and both (usually) at the weekend as the pairs workloads had both increased, meaning Emma was taking on more hours, more shifts and more cases. Regina's firm had taken on a big case and were part of the prosecution for members of a large international drug ring and when she was at home, she was often found working in her study.

Regina barely noticed at first, as she was so busy, and Emma tried to keep her naps to when she knew Regina was in court or too busy to come looking for her. She hid it even more after she'd sustained a minor back injury that prevented her from sleeping all that well on the firm mattress she shared with Regina, and so she took to napping on the softer sofa whenever she could.

Three weeks later and the case had been won, the multiple members of the drug ring being given sentences that combined, added up to more than 200 years, something which Regina considered a little bit of a disappointment given the 'murder for hire' aspect of the case that she had discovered. She had taken two weeks holiday at the end of the case and so was at home with her family more, noticing finally that not only had Emma been barely sleeping at night, but that she'd been hiding an injury from her, which had led to a kinda-fight, something they did often, when their personalities clashed but they were not really angry with the other, or if they were, it was temporary. Regina had quickly realised that she had been 'neglecting her duties as a wife' in the fact that she had not noticed the injury sooner and so decided not to fight her properly about it, instead she had taken her to the hospital to get a scan and helped her when she struggled.

The first time she 'caught' Emma in a nap, after the bad day was the day after she had returned urgently from an overnight conference, when Henry had suffered a bad asthma attack and Emma had spent the whole night, awake in hospital, holding his hand. Regina felt so terrible that she had not been with her wife and baby boy on one of the scariest nights of their lives, that when she had found Emma napping the next afternoon, she'd covered her up, kissed her softly and baked the blonde's favourite dessert for after their dinner.

She noticed them more after that, but also noticed that the changes Emma had made previously were still ongoing. They'd fallen into a routine where they took turns cooking, took turns doing the chores neither of them wanted to do, and though the amount of dates and family outings lessened, they were both responsible for planning them. They were in a good place as their jobs went well, their relationship improved daily, and Henry thrived as he grew.

xxx

When they were nearing his third birthday, Regina had a rare weekday off, and Emma was on what was supposed to be a relatively easy day shift, her last one before she had the long weekend off. She'd gone to work early, thinking of what she could do with her family over the next four days, excited to see them that evening. She had however, returned three hours later, feeling too unwell to sit at her desk and do paperwork, let alone chase perps around the city. Henry was spending his last day with Ashley the childminder before she stopped minding to go to college and so when Emma did go trudging through the door she'd only disturbed Regina, who had been in the middle of cleaning out the oven.

Happy to have an excuse to forgo the oven cleanse she had immediately stopped when Emma arrived, making sure she was ok before settling her on the sofa with a mug of hot cocoa and a blanket, Netflix playing a marathon of a show they had been bingeing. It had started with Emma laying her head on Regina's lap, the brunette massaging the woman's scalp, as they watched together, before Emma had shot off the sofa to make it to the bathroom before she was sick. Regina had dutifully followed her, slightly concerned about her wife who rarely got sick. When they returned to where they had been sitting, they changed positions, Emma figuring it was probably best if she stayed upright. This time, Regina lay her head across Emma's lap, comforted when she started brushing her fingers through her hair. When the season they were on came to an end, Regina looked up at Emma who was watching her with a serene smile on her face.

"What?"

"You're just so beautiful, you know that?" Regina blushed and Emma smiled, running her thumb across Regina's cheek and under her bottom lip. The brunette shook her head, looking back to the tv, where the next episode was playing its opening credits. Emma was still not paying attention, but was focused on her wife. "I love everything about you. Your smile, your eyes, your blush…" She gently touched the scar above Regina's lip, a mark she'd gained when she had fainted in hospital as Emma was giving birth to their son. "…this…" It was whispered as if it was a secret, though both women loved the scar that would always remind them, as if they even needed it, of the day their little miracle had been born. Regina's blush deepened and she kept her eyes trained on the show, as Emma moved her hand back into Regina's hair. "I love your hair too, when it's styled for court, when you put it up at the end of a long day… when it's a mess after we've… I just love every aspect of you, Regina Mills." Emma was often mushy, mostly when she was drunk, or when she was proposing, and so the fact that she had just said all that and made the brunette feel like the most beautiful girl in the world was slightly concerning to Regina. She felt the fingers in her hair still and looked up at her wife quizzically noticing then that she had fallen asleep. Regina chuckled quietly, noting there were still a number of hours until she needed to pick Henry up, before deciding to join her wife in a nap.

That night they'd done much of the same, eating together before curling up under a blanket to watch whatever kids' movie came up as recommended on the children's channel on Netflix. When they'd gone to bed, Emma, who had been 'ill' all day had tried to flirt (poorly, but that was probably down to the mild fever) into some 'hanky panky' as she'd actually called it to Regina's face and had pouted when Regina had pressed two fingers to either side of the blonde's nose causing her headache to worsen and they'd gone to sleep after some mild cuddling. Regina had woken about 3am to Emma trying to feel her up in her sleep and had struggled to get to sleep, thinking about a way she could entertain herself over the weekend if Emma was going to be in bed, sick.

She was partly right. Emma had dragged herself downstairs the next morning and made Regina breakfast, bathed Henry and changed him, before falling asleep at the kitchen counter. Regina, impressed that Emma had managed to get out of bed, let alone function as a mother when she felt as rotten as she looked, had made the sofa up into a temporary bed, left a bucket, tissues, bottled water and aspirin on the side table and directed the blonde over to it, keeping her awake long enough to kiss her gently and settle her down.

When she was sure Emma was asleep, and would be for the next few hours, she wrapped Henry up, ready to take him to his Aunt Zelena's for the day. She had decided to pamper herself for a couple of hours before tending to her wife while her sister had all but demanded on looking after Henry for the day, her little girl Robyn having requested her 'bestest friend' visit. Regina was more than happy to allow Henry to spend the day with his aunt and five year old cousin, especially if Emma really was sick.

She arrived at the salon and was seated instantly, the owner being a former client of Regina's firm and happy to give her preferential treatment. Regina checked her phone for any message from her demanding wife or about her adorable toddler and saw none, settling back into her chair as the stylist walked up behind her, ready to get started.

"So what are you looking for today Mrs Mills?" Regina chuckled and shook her head at the formality, knowing that if she told Ruby to address her as Regina, not only would she be ignored, but her title would be stressed all the more.

"I'm not exactly sure… I think I'm tired of the length, but I don't necessarily want it any shorter, you know what I mean?" Ruby nodded seriously, appraising the hair as it was, looking at the ends and assessing the roots.

"So you want hair extensions?"

Regina smirked at her reflection in the mirror as Ruby used the tips of her fingers to measure the length of the front of her hair. She pretended to consider for a moment, as if she didn't know exactly what she wanted done. "Yes, that's a good idea. I think that will be a nice surprise for my wife."

Ruby beamed, stepping back from the stool to signal to someone at the back of the salon. "Super. We'll just have Aurora here wash your hair and we'll get started with quick trim to even it up. Are we keeping the colour the same?" With Regina's nod, she nodded back and walked over to the counter as Aurora took Regina back for her wash. A little time later, she was back in her chair, with Ruby back and starting the process of adding the extensions.

They chatted as time went on, Ruby asking about Henry and Emma, and in return, Regina asking about Ruby's grandmother and little brother Billy, both of whom she cared for. Regina shared in her plans for Henry's birthday and extended an invitation to Ruby, informing her she could bring Billy with her if she wished. She checked her phone every twenty minutes, seeing no notifications that she needed to deal with and was in the middle of telling Ruby about Henry destroying their iron with his crayons when Ruby stepped back, gesturing a 'ta-da' motion at the finished result.

"What do you think?" Regina beamed as she saw what she now looked like, deciding it was perfect for the prank she had planned. It was her usual style, just longer.

"It's fantastic, thank you very much Ruby." Although Ruby would not called Regina by her first name, she did accept the hug that Regina offered, promising both she and Billy would be attending the party.

Regina wanted to get home before Emma woke up, although she was ill and didn't have any reason to be awake at that time, she figured that if she was out too much longer, there was a chance her 'surprise' would be ruined.

When she entered her home, she shut the door quietly, announcing her presence quietly.

"Honey, I'm back!" She paused in the entryway, waiting for anything that would show her that Emma was up and about. Hearing nothing, she took her shoes off, taking the jacket from the hook next to the stairs changing into it from the one she was wearing, something she hoped would make her prank more believable to her wife. She poked her head around the corner to the room where she had left Emma, grinning as she noticed her still sound asleep, one sockless foot hanging out from under the blanket, off the sofa.

She took a minute to just admire the beauty before her. She was a little flushed from the fever she had, and her breathing was a little uneven, but to Regina, she looked as beautiful as she had on their wedding day and every day before and since, so innocent in her sleeping state. She didn't know how Emma would react to the prank. Probably better than she herself would if it had been the other way around, and she hoped she would find it humorous. She did after all just want to do something to bring a little unexpected joy to an otherwise normal day.

She made her way over to Emma, noting some water had been drunk and aspirin taken, but the rest of her supplies went untouched, suggesting to the brunette at least that she wasn't seriously ill. With one last giggle to herself, she schooled her features, took hold of Emma's shoulders and shook gently.

"Emma? Sweetheart? Emma, wake up!" She held back a grin as the blonde opened her eyes blearily, blinking a couple of times, disoriented from being woken from a deep sleep.

"Huh?"

Biting back a laugh, she leaned forward, her now longer hair tickling Emma's face. "OH GOD! You're finally awake! Emma, you've been sleep for TWO YEARS!" Her voice rose as she spoke, making sure she looked a mixture of concerned and angry.

"Wuh… What the fuck?!" Emma sat up quickly, Regina just managing to move back in time to avoid being head-butted and she looked her wife up and down, noticing the change of clothes and the longer hair, too surprised to pay attention to anything else. She stood up quickly, stumbling until Regina grabbed hold of her to keep her upright, and she lunged towards the play pen where she could not see her son. "WHAT THE FUCK?! Where's Henry? Has he missed me? Crap, did I miss his birthday?" She looked back and forth to Regina and around the room, looking the clock as if that would tell her the date. "WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME?" At the shock and horror in her beloved's voice, the brunette could not hold back her laughter any longer and she doubled over, holding her belly as tears streamed down her face. She was almost howling in laughter and Emma looked confused.

When she finally understood what was going on, after checking her phone for the date, she turned towards her wife with a predatory expression. She wanted to be mad. She had, for one brief moment (at least that's what she would say when telling this story in the future) thought that she had slept for a long time and missed two years of her families lives, but the sound of her hardcore lawyer wife laughing to hard she was crying, the look of her; red faced and eyes so bright, she wanted nothing more in that moment than to throw her on the sofa and have her way with her. She didn't feel ill in this moment, instead she wanted to play.

Regina had stopped laughing long enough to look up at Emma and see the look in her eyes and she readied herself, dashing around the little coffee table as Emma approached her. Emma's grin changed as her wife ran away from her and it became almost childlike in nature as she turned, and ran after her into the kitchen. They had played this game before Henry came along, it started with one of them doing something to the other, and they chased each other all around the house before one of them, usually the one being chased, would give in and allow themselves to be caught. They usually wouldn't make it to the bedroom after that and would devour each other where they had been caught, their exhaustion from the game usually leading to some pretty uncomfortable naps.

This time, Regina led Emma into the kitchen and around the island before running out the back door, all around the veranda and in through the front door, before making her way up the stairs, pretending to dash right and going left into their bedroom. She'd stopped in the middle of the floor and remained stood for about 0.5 seconds until Emma entered almost tacking Regina into bed. The laughing began again and the two collapsed into each other back onto the bed. No more words were necessary as Emma realised she loved Regina's new hair for more than one reason.

xxx

The long weekend hadn't been as 'normal' as Regina had predicted, as Henry had had his first ever sleepover with his cousin that night, and the little family of three had spent the second half of the weekend together.

They had both returned to work the following Tuesday and things were back to normal for a few weeks. Henry's birthday came and the family celebrated hard with Emma's parents, Neal, Zelena and Robyn, Ruby and Billy, Kathryn and Frederick, Ashley and kids from Henry's nursery in attendance. Regina had taken great joy in sharing the PG version of the story to Ruby and the rest of the adults much to Emma's embarrassment.

It had been a long weekend, as they were also celebrating their anniversary early (with Regina due to be in New York the next weekend for their actual anniversary, consulting on a big case with the FBI, and so Emma had decided to take Regina lunch to the office. Her secretary had been informed that she was not to be disturbed under any circumstances, but although Emma's visits had not been specified, the secretary allowed Emma entrance to her wife's office, if only for a few minutes. Emma had been to Regina's favourite sushi place and had hoped they could eat together, but when she entered and saw that her Regina was curled up on her office chair, sound asleep, she was torn. There were no hard feelings about her prank, only fond memories and so Emma didn't necessarily feel the need to get any payback.

When she heard a little snore come from her wife, her easy decision had been made. She placed the lunch bag into the mini fridge in the corner of the room, leaving a little note on a post it on the desk so she knew to check there when she woke up. She took the coat from the hook by the door and draped it over the woman she loved, pressing a kiss to her cheek as she made her way back to the door. With one final glance back she was reminded once again, just how lucky she was to have married her soulmate, and just how much she couldn't wait to get her back for the prank she had pulled.

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 **Not proofread because it is nearly 2am and I'm tired.**


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